Leonard Read
| birth_place = Hubbardston, Michigan, United States | death_date = May | death_place = | nationality = American | institution = Foundation for Economic Education (founder) | field = | alma_mater = | influences = Frédéric Bastiat F.A. Hayek Henry Hazlitt Ludwig von Mises Albert Jay Nock Ayn Rand | influenced = | contributions = | awards = | signature = | repec_prefix = | repec_id = }} Leonard Edward Read (September 26, 1898 – May 14, 1983) was the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), which was one of the first modern libertarian institutions of its kind in the United States. He wrote 29 books and numerous essays, including the well-known "I, Pencil" (1958). Life Business career After a stint in the United States Army Air Service during World War I, Read started a grocery wholesale business in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which was initially successful but eventually went out of business. He moved to California where he started a new career in the tiny Burlingame Chamber of Commerce near San Francisco. Read gradually moved up the hierarchy of the United States Chamber of Commerce, finally becoming general manager of the Los Angeles branch, America's largest, in 1939. Libertarian activism During this period his views became progressively more libertarian. Apparently, it was in 1933, during a meeting with William C. Mullendore, the executive vice president of Southern California Edison, that Read was finally convinced that the New Deal was completely inefficient and morally bankrupt. Read was also profoundly influenced by his religious beliefs. His pastor, Reverend James W. Fifield, was minister of the 4,000-member First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, of which Read was also a board member. Fifield ran a "resistance movement" against the "social gospel" of the New Deal, trying to convince ministers across the country to adopt libertarian "spiritual ideals." During the period when he worked for the Chamber of Commerce, Read was also deeply influenced by more secular figures, such as Albert Jay Nock, and, later, by Ayn Rand and the economists Ludwig von Mises and Henry Hazlitt. In 1945, Virgil Jordan, the President of the National Industrial Conference Board (NICB) in New York, invited Read to become its executive vice president. Read realized he would have to leave the NICB to pursue full-time the promotion of free market, limited government principles. He resigned as a result.North, Gary. (August 7, 2002) "Leonard E. Read's Small Tent Strategy", LewRockwell.com One donor from his short time at NICB, David M. Goodrich, encouraged Read to start his own organization. With Goodrich's aid, as well as financial aid from the William Volker Fund and from Harold Luhnow, Read and Hazlitt founded the Foundation for Economic Education in 1946, which, in turn, helped to inspire Friedrich Hayek to form the Mont Pelerin Society the following year. For a period in the 1940s, philosopher Ayn Rand was an important adviser, or "ghost," as they called it, to Read.Burns, Jennifer, Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right, 2010, Oxford Univ. Press, pp. 115–120. In 1950, Read joined the board of directors for the newly-founded periodical The Freeman, a free market magazine that was a forerunner of the conservative National Review, to which Read was also a contributor. In 1954, Read arranged for the struggling magazine to be transferred to a for-profit company owned by FEE. In 1956, FEE assumed direct control of the magazine, turning it into a non-profit outreach tool for the foundation. He continued to work with FEE until his death in 1983. Recognition Read received an Honorary Doctoral Degree at Universidad Francisco Marroquín in 1976.Honoris Causa Doctaral degrees at University Francisco Marroquín Publications * Romance of Reality. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1937. *''Plunderstorm Ahead! An address, Mercury Club, Kansas City, October 17, 1944''. Detroit, MI: Detroit Board of Commerce, 1944. * I'd Push the Button. New York: Joseph D. McGuire, 1946. * Pattern for Revolt. New York: Joseph D. McGuire, 1948. * Students of Liberty. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1950. *''Conscience on the Battlefield. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1951. * ''Outlook for Freedom.. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1951. *''Combatting Statism''. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1953. * Victims of Social Leveling. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1953. *''Two Ways to Stop Strikes''. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1953. * Government: An ideal concept. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1954; 2nd edition 1997. ISBN 1-57246-061-X *''Corporate Contributions for Education''. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1954. * Why Not Try Freedom?. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1958. *''I, Pencil: My Family Tree'' ("as told to Leonard Read). Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1958; **(with introduction by Milton Friedman). . Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1999. *''Conscience of the Majority''. . Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1961. *''Endowed by their Creator. Oklahoma City, OK: Mayflower Community Congregational Church, 1961. * ''Elements of Libertarian Leadership: Notes on the theory, methods, and practice of freedom. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1962. * Anything That's Peaceful: The case for the rree market. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1964; ** revised edition, 1992. ISBN 1-57246-079-2 * The Free Market and Its Enemy. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1965. * Deeper Than You Think. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1967. * Reflections on Coming of Age: FEE faces the future. . Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1967. * [http://fee.org/library/detail/where-lies-this-fault Where Lies This Fault? A speculation on the recovery of freedom. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1967. * Accent on the Right'. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1968. *''The Will to Prevail: Respects to the resolute. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1968. * The Coming Aristocracy. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1969. * Let Freedom Reign. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1969. *''Talking to Myself. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1970. *Then Truth Will Out. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1971. * To Free or Freeze: That is the question. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1972. *''Meditations on Freedom. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1972. * ''Instead of Violence: The case for the non-coercive society. Lansing, MI: O.R. Bramble, 1973. * Who's Listening. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1973. * The Free Man's Almanac. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1974. * Having My Way. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1974. * The Love of Liberty. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1975. * Castles in the Air. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1975. ISBN 0-910614-52-0 * Comes the Dawn. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1976. *ABC's of Freedom''. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1976. * Awake for Freedom's Sake. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1977. * Vision. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1978. * Liberty: Legacy of truth. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1978. * The Freedom Freeway. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1979. * Seeds of Progress. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1980. * Thoughts Rule the World. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1981. * How We Do Know. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1981. * The Path of Duty. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1982. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Leonard E. Read, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Mar. 7, 2015. See also * Classical liberalism * Laissez-faire References * * * * Notes External links ;Books *"The Digitization of Leonard Read" by Jeffrey Tucker * Books by Leonard Read at the Mises Institute. ;About * Profile at SourceWatch ;Etc. * Foundation for Economic Education Category:1898 births Category:1983 deaths Category:Austrian School economists Category:American essayists Category:American libertarians Category:American political philosophers Category:American political writers Category:Libertarian theorists Category:American classical liberals Category:Mont Pelerin Society members Category:Old Right (United States)